Belt conveyer.



No. 810,510. PATENTED JAN. 23, 1906. T. ROBINS, JR.

BELT CONVEYER.

APPLICATION FILED 001210.1903.

a SHEETS-SHBET 1.

WITNESSES: 5 m VENTOI? A TTOHNE Y T. ROBINS, JR.

BBBBBBBBBBB R.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE 2.

. IiEVENTOI? f.

No. 810,510. PATENTED JAN. 2a, 1906.

T. ROBINS! JR.

BELT GONVBYER.

APPLICATION rum) 00T.10,1903.

a sums-sum a.

DUDE DUDE D0047 DUDE DUDE DUDE DUDE D7570 D ODD DUDE] DUDE! EIDCICIUIEICID CIUUU DUDE] UUCIU D WITNESSES. IN VENTOH A HORNE Y UNITED STATESPATENT oFFIoE.

THOMAS ROBINS, JR4, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ROBINS CON- VEYINGBELT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y A CORPORATION OF 'NEW JERSEY.

BELT CONVEYER.

Patented Jan. 23, 1906.

Application filed October 10,1903. Serial No. 176,514.

used as the carrying medium; and the objects thereof are to improve uponthe construction of such conveyers, to facilitate and improve theiroperation, and especially to increase greatly the angle to the.horizontal at which belts may successfully be operated on suchconveyers.

The essential features of the invention lie in the provision of a beltconveyer in which an endless belt is stretched tightly between and overtwo pulleys, one of which is ordinarily l the driving-pulley whichimparts travel to the belt; in which the upper or carrying portion ofthe belt between said pulleys is supported upon idler-pulleys adapted toimpart a longitudinal trough shape to the belt; in which the lowerportion is supported u on what are commonly known as return id erpulleysthe faces of which lie in the same plane; in which a snub pulley orpulleys are used to increase the area and ressure of the belt contact onthe driving pulley or pulleys, and in which the conveyer-belt isprovided on its carrying-surface with a system of ribs, elevations, orridges presenting elements disposed both longitudinally and transverselyof the belt and so arranged that they have a tendency to shift thematerial carried by the belt toward the middle thereof and that theribbed or rid ed surface of the belt may travel smoothIy over thesnub-pulleys and return idler-pulleys.

"As is well known to all persons familiar with the construction andoperation of belt conveyers, it is the common practice in drivingconveyer-belts to provide adjacent the driving pulley or pulleys a snubpulley or pulleys, the function of which is to increase the frictionbetween the belt and the drivingpulley and to throw more of the belt incontact with the driving-pulley as it passes over that pulley. Thisprovision is necessary in order to drive a belt of any considerablelength, and especially one which is used as a carrying medium, withoutslippage and consequent loss of driving power. practice to su port theupper or carrying portion of the be t between the end pulleys onidler-pulleys placed transversely of the belt and so sha ed orpositioned that they turn the sides of that portion of thebelt upward,forming a trough which extends longitudinally of the belt. In this waythe carrying capacity of the belt is greatly increased and the tendencyof the material to roll or slide off the beltat the sides is partiallyor wholly overcome without the use of skirt-boards or other additionalside supports.

In order to lessen the tension on the belt and to assist in keeping ittaut, the lower or idle portion is commonly supported on returnidlerulleys which are placed transversely of t e belt and are adapted toretain all of its return portion in the same plane.

- The general arrangement of the drivingulley, conv eyer-belt, and snuband idlerpuleys is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 11, in which itis shown that the carryingsurface of the belt must contact with thesnub-pulley and the return-idlers.

I am aware that on harvesters, ore concentrators and washers, and thelike belts are sometimes used which are provided with ribs, ridges, ordepressions of various shapes intended to form a corrugatedcarrying-surface on the belt; but there are several manifest differencesbetween these classes of belts and the conveyers on which they are used,as compared with my improved conveyer and the belt therefor, in theirconstruction and operation, as well as in the conditions andrequirements which they are adapted to meet. The carriers on harvestersand similar machines are so short as not to require snubpulleys andreturn-idlers, and as they carry only very light materials the belts arenever troughed, but the carrying capacity is increased by the use ofskirt-boards. Ore concentrators and washers donot include snubpulleysand idler-pulleys, and the belts are never troughed, since troughingwould interfere with the uses to which these belts are put. In machinesof this type the ribs or depressions on the belt are intended to serveas rifiies and to assist in distributing the materials on the beltrather than to make it possible to operate the belt at a considerableangle to the horizontal. In harvesters transverse ribs are employed toassist in preventin slippage of the material carried on the belts oraprons; but such ribs are made of wood, metal, or other stiff materials.The ribs or ridges on ore-concentrators and the like are'sometimes' madeflexible; but these belts, whether ribbed or otherwise, are not adaptedor intended for troughing. None of the belts above referred to areprovided with ribs which are so shaped or positioned as to have atendency to shift the material carried by the belt toward the middlethereof. From the foregoing it is obvious that these convey ers andtheir belts are not adapted to meet the requirements imposed uponconveyers which are used for carrying coal, ore, broken I stone, andother loose granular materials.

My invention contemplates the use of conveyer-belts provided on theircarrying-surfaces with a system of ribs or ridges which will insure thesmooth passage of the conveyer-belt over a snub pulley or pulleys andreturn-idlers, which will permit the troughing .and others whosehandling the same of the conveyer-belt to any extent desirable for theeffective handling of granular materials of any of the forms abovementioned is determined by conditions an which will also crowd thematerial carried by the belt toward the median line thereof, especiallywhen the belt is operating at a steep incline.

The conveyenbelts generally used in handling materials of the-kindsabove specified are usually made of canvas or of canvas pro teeted witha coating of rubber. 'It isto belts of these two types that thisinvention particularly relates, and the ribs on the carrying-surface ofthe belt may be successfully made either of canvas or of rubber,according to the nature of the carrying-surface 0f the belt upon whichthe ribs are to be placed.

It has been found in the practical operation of conveyer-belts of eitherof the two types above mentioned that it is impossible to operate beltconveyors successfully when the inclination of the carrying-surface tothe hori- 'zontal plane is much greater than twenty difficulty ofoperating eonveyer-belts at an inclination to the horizontal of morethan twenty degrees lay not in the slipping of the materials onthesurface of the belt, but in the slipping of the material upon itself,it being thought that in granular materials of theforms specified thelowermost particles which came into contact with the conveyer-belt wouldslip less readily thereon than the upper particles would slip upon thelower particles. Actual test shows, however,- that when a belt isprovided with a system of ribs or ridges of any of the forms hereinafterto be d eseribed the angle to the horizontal atwhieh thecarrying-surface of the belt may be disposed and successfully operatedis materially greater than that at uppermost particles in'the layer toslip upon the particles below is very slight.

In describing the invention reference will be had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this speeificatlon, in which are illustrateda number of different forms of embodiment of the invention all capableof carrying the same into practical operation, it being understood thatvarious changes in the precise manner of arrangement of the ribs and intheir construction and mode ofattachment to conveyer-belts may be madewithout departing from the invention or sacrificing any of theadvantages thereof.

Similar reference-letters refer to similar parts throughout the severalviews.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the carrying-surfaceof one formof my improved ribbed conveyer-belt and the toptroughing-idlers on which it is supported. Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof the bottom or return portion of a similar belt, showing the way inwhich it is supported on the bottom or return idlers. Figs.'3, 4, 5, 6,and 7 are plan views of belts provided with strai ht or curvedtransverse ribs and longitudina ribs. Fig. 8 is a plan view of a beltprovided with a system of ribs made up of separate elevations or bosses,part of which are arranged in curves transverse to the belt, whileothersare placed in an approximately straight lineat or near the middlethereof. Fig; v9 is a plan view of a belt provided with a system of ribscomprising straight transverse ribs and longitudinal ribs made up of searate elevations or bosses arranged in strai'g t lines Fig' 10 is a planview of a belt provided with a system. of ribs comprising straighttransverse ribs which do not extend com )letely across thecarryingsurfaee of the belt, but lie intermediate of the mar inaledgesthereof'and inclined ribs extending from the lateral edges of thebelt obliquely toward its middle far enough to overlap the ends of thetransverse, ribs; and Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view showing theOI'(llnar arrangement of a eonveyer-belt, drivingpul ey, snubpulley, andtop and bottom idlers.

Referring to the drawings, B represents a belt which may be made ofcanvas, of canvas faced with rubber, or of any other suitable materialor materials, since the construction of the body of the belt forms nopart'of this invention. As shownin Figs. 1, 2, and 11, belt B is adaptedfor use as a conveying medium by being stretched tightly between andover end pulleys A and E, one of which, as A, is usually thedriving-pulley, which imparts travel to the belt in the desireddirection. For convenience belt B may be considered as composed of twoortions, the upper or carrying section M and the lower, return, or idlesection N, and each part of the belt will belong first to one, then tothe other, of these sections as the belt travels over the end pulleys.Carrying-section M is supported upon idlerpulleys D, which in conveyersfor general use are arranged to trough the belt, as illustrated inFig. 1. Return or idle section N is supported upon return-idl'ers C,each of which maybe com osed either of one pulley or of two or more puleys arran ed in the same plane. (See Fig. 2.) Section fi also passesover snubpulley F, which, as shown in Fig. 11,.is arranged to increasethe area and pressure ofbelt contact on driving-pulley A.

As shown in all the figures of the drawings, the ribs and bosses arearranged on the belt with special reference to the accomplishment of twoof the objects which have been described herein as forming an essentialpart of my invention: first, to furnish supports for the materialcarried by section M, which will prevent'slippage of the material onthe'belt when the latter is inclined at an angle to the horizontal, andthus to make it possible for conveyer-belts to carry materialssuccessfully when said belts are inclined at a greater angle to thehorizontal than has been ossible heretofore, and, second, to adaptsectlon N to run smoothly over snub-pulley F and returnidlers G.Furthermore, since the materials used in constructing the ribs andbosses are identical with or similar to those entering into thestructure of the belt itself, the ribs and bosses possess the samedegree of flexibility as the belt, and they will therefore notappreciably lessen the flexibility of the whole belt, and hence will notinterfere with its troughm I3elts of the types shown in Figs. 3, 5, 6,7, 8, and 10 are characterized by the presence contact wit of ribs andbosses, portions of which, at least, are arranged at oblique angles tothe line of travel of the belt and are so disposed that when the beltsare traveling in the direction indicated by the arrows said inclinedribs will serve to shift the material toward the center of the belt ifany slippage of the material on the belt occurs. he belts of these formsare especially adapted for the handling of materials whose particles aresomewhat regular in outline, and hence are more apt to slip on thesurface of belts-such, for instance, as gravel and grain.

On the belts shown in Figs. 4 and 9 the ribs are disposed at rightangles to each other and are either parallel or at right angles to thelength of the belt, so-that they have no effect in shifting the materialcarried by the belt toward the center. Such arrangements of the ribs aredesigned for belts used for carrying particularly rough and irregularclasses of materialsuch, for example, as coal and ore.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the arrangement of the ribs on my improvedbelt is such that when the ribbed surface of the belt passes over apulle or pulleys only the ribs come in the pulley, and as they are allof the same heig t the belt runs smoothly over the pulleys withoutjerking or slapping. This is absolutely necessary in' the case ofconveyer-belts for general use, in'which, as has been pointed outhereinbefore, the carrying-surface of the belt must contact with boththe snub pulley or pulleys and the return-idlers.

It is obvious that for a belt to run smoothly over a pulley a surface ofthe belt which normally lies in the same plane throughout the length ofthe belt must continuously contact with the pulleys, and no othersurface of the belt which is not in that plane should touch the pulleyin passing over it. This requirement is met in my improved belt byarranging the ribs on the carrying-surface in such a way that when thebelt is inverted they will support it with all parts of the surface ofthe belt proper lying in the same plane even when tension is applied tothe belt. Thus in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 both margins of the returnportion of the belt are supported at all times by marginal ribs a. InFigs. 1, 2, and 3 the parts of the belt between the margins and thecenter are supported by curved ribs b and straight ribs 0, one or bothof which are always in contact with the pulley. In Fig. 4 these partsare supported by ribs (1 and e, in Fig. 5 by gland h, in Fig. 6 by'z',and j, in Fig. 7 byk and In Figs. 8, 9, and 10 no continuous marginalribs are shown, their place being taken in Fig. 8 by those of the bossesor elevations m which are nearest the ends of the curves, in Fig. 9 bythe bosses p and the outer ends of ribs 0, and in Fig. 10 by ribs 8,which overlap, so as to furnish continuous supports. In Fig. 8 thecentral part of the belt is supported by both bosses n and bosses m, inFig. 9 by bosses q and ribs 0 ,in Fig. 10 by ribs 7 and the inner endsof ribs 8.

'On canvas belts ribs of the forms shown in Figs. 4 and 10 are preferredto those shown in the other figures, for the reason that curved ribs arenecessarily more difficult to construct than straight ribs; but in beltshaving a carrying-surface of rubber the forms of the ribs will notgreatly affect the cost thereof, because the ribs will be molded uponthe surface of the belt at the time of manufacture or will be separatelymolded and afterward secured to the belt 1n any suitable manner, as bycementing or riveting. When a canvas belt is provided with transverseribs extending entirely across the carrying-surface of the belt, it willbe desirable to form the ribs out of the upper ply of the canvascomposing the belt, since these ribs being integral with thecarrying-surface of the belt the possibility of their becomingcompletely or partially detached will be greatly lessened. However, theprecise manner of forming and attaching the ribs of the different typesillustrated does not constitute an essential part of my invention, andno detailed description of these operations is regarded as necessary.

It will be obvions that while I have illustrated the preferred forms ofembodiment of my invention the ribs may be arranged upon the belt was toform different systems and still to accomplish the ends contemplated inthis invention, the essence of which has already been pointed out.

Therefore without limiting my invention to the precise constructionshown and described nor enumerating equivalents, I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, the following:

1. In a belt conveyer, the combination with troughing-idlers, endpulleys and drivin means, and a snub-pulley, of a conveyerbe l'tprovided on its carryin -surface with a system of spaced ribs or eevations so arranged as to run smoothly over the snub-pulley, andprevent contact of said pulley with any portion of the belt except theribs or elevations. p

2. In a belt-conveyer,' the combination with troughing-idlers,return-idlers, end pulleys and driving means, and a snub-pulley, of aconveyer-belt provided on its carrying-surface with a system of spacedribs or elevations so arranged as to run smoothly over the return-idlersand snub-pulley, and to prevent contact of the return-idlers andsnub-pulley with an portion of the belt between said ribs or e evations.

3. In a belt conveyer, the combination with a series of troughing-idlersarranged to sup ort a belt traveling upward at an angle to t ehorizontal, of a conveyer-belt travel: ing on said idlers and rovided onits carr ing-surfacc with spaced yefging forwardly from the middle ofthe e t. I

4. In a belt conveyer, the combination with a series of trouhing-i'dlers arranged to support a belt traveling upward in an inclinedplane, of a conve er-belt provided on its carrying-surface wit a systemof spaced ribs or elevations arranged to run smoothly overreturn-idlers, and comprisinglongitudinal and transverse elementsembodied in ribs 0r elevations diverging forwardly from the middle ofthe belt toward the margins thereof.

'5. A belt for conveyers and analogous ribs or elevations istructures,provided on its carrying-surface 1 longitudinal elements and spacedapart.

6. A belt for conveyers and analogous structures, provided upon its carringssurface with marginal and transverse e evations of thesame height.

7. A belt for conveyers and analogous structures, provided on its caing-surface with longitudinally-disposed e evations at the margins andin the middle of the belt, and spaced transverse elevations.

8. A belt for conveyers and analogous structures having upon itscarrying-surface a system of ribs or elevations comprising longitudinaland transverse elements embodied in ribs conver in r from the margins ofthe belt to the midd e t ereof.

9. A belt for conveyers and analogous structures having on itscarrying-surface a system of ribs or elevations comprising longitudinaland transverse elements embodied in ribs, each presenting a single curvesubstantially tangent at its extremities to the margins of the belt andtransverse to the belt at the middle.

10. A belt for conveyers and analogous structures having on itscarrying-surface a system of ribs or elevations comprising longitudinaland transverse elements embodied in marginal ribs and in ribs eachpresenting a single curve tangent at its ends to said marginal ribs andtransverse to the belt in the middle.

11. A belt for conveyers and analogous structures having on itscarrying-surface a system of ribs or elevations comprising longitudinaland transverse elements, embodied in lon itudinal ribs at the marginsand in the mi dle of the belt and in ribs each presenting a single curvetan ent at its extremities to the mar ins of the elt and transverse tothe belt in t e middle. I

12. A belt for conveyers and analogous structures having on its carryingsurface a In testimony whereof I have signed this i system of ribs orelevations comprising merspecification in the presence of twosubscribginal ribs, curved ribs tangent at their exing Witnesses.

tremities to the mar inal ribs and transverse THOMAS ROBINS, JR. 5 tothe belt in the mifdle, and short longitudi- Witnesses:

nal ribs in the middle of the belt extending EMIL CHAS. EGER,

from the convexities of said curved ribs. FREDERICK SOHOBER WAYNE.

